


a love like (ship) war

by literatureonhowtolose



Category: Borderlands, Life Is Strange (Video Game), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Health Issues, and i personally am crying, nathan is fucked up but he's getting better, they discuss ships and come to conclusions, warren is helping, warren playing videogames and nathan trying hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 07:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6461086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literatureonhowtolose/pseuds/literatureonhowtolose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>«Can I watch you play some more? I want to see where this goes.»<br/>«I never thought the day would come where you'd ask me something of the kind», Warren said, and he sounded almost moved.<br/>«I never thought they day would come where someone like me would be with someone like you, and yet.»<br/>Warren knocked their heads together softly so that it didn't really hurt either of them.<br/>«Fuck off.»<br/>The funny thing was that Nathan hadn't meant it as an insult, nor was he joking. He genuinely thought someone rotten and fucked up like him would never get to be with someone as pure and selfless as Warren.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a love like (ship) war

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this for a few days and I'm excited to finally post it! I've been hit by the Grahamscott feels lately, and since my main obsession rn is Tales from the Borderlands my brain did a thing and here we are.  
> As I always say, english isn't my first language, so I apologize in advance for mistakes you might find here and there. I did my best to fix the fic, but something always slips apparently, heh.  
> I hope this will brighten your day a little!

Nathan entered the room without knocking. They didn't knock anymore, it was all in the past, now they just randomly showed up in each other's room and settled in one another's routine with disarming ease.

Warren was sitting cross-legged at the edge of his bed, joystick in hand. He didn't even look up before greeting Nathan, he didn't need to, he knew it had to be him.

Plus, things have a tendency to go terribly wrong in Tales from the Borderlands if you don't pay close attention to what you're doing.

For example: you want to scratch your nose and you don't think it requires pressing pause?

You might want to think again, because guess what? You've just died. Or worse, you've offended someone.

Nathan hummed in response, closing the door behind him.

He glanced at the TV, then headed over to the bed and flopped rather gracelessly onto it.

Warren raised his arms and Nathan rested his head on his lap and sighed deeply.

It was maybe a bit insane just how much of a relief simply touching Warren was after a long day in the life of a neuroatypical person such as Nathan.

He had yet to understand what was it exactly that made physical contact with the guy so soothing, but he felt he would have needed half the pills he took daily if only he could have been touching him constantly.

Casual touches, a hand resting on his leg or shoulders brushing, the ones that let you know someone's real and – more importantly – that they're still there by your side, despite everything.

Warren paused the game and abandoned the controller momentarily.

As if he'd read Nathan's mind he hunched down to kiss his forehead, then carded his fingers through his hair the way he knew he liked.

Nathan always spent an inappropriate amount of time making sure his hair looked perfect, but he loved when Warren played with it too much to really care if it got messed up.

He would get mad at the wind, at the rain and at all the natural phenomena capable of threatening the well-being of his hairstyle; he would also get mad if other people – Vic included – even so much as tried to breathe near it. But he would never get mad at Warren for it.

He actually asked him to run his fingers through it, which was a bit of a contradiction, alright, but then again the whole them-being-together thing was.

«What are you playing?»

«How was your day?»

They often did it. Talking at the same time.

It was hard to know when to talk when silence felt so comfortable.

«I don't want to discuss my day with you, you're not my therapist», Nathan answered first, and it came out a bit harsher than he meant. As always.

Using a tone that wouldn't come off as either irritated or condescending was something he definitely had to work on.

«Bad day», Warren said, understanding as ever, «All I wanted to know.»

 _Sorry_ , Nathan thought. He just didn't say it out loud.

He had to work on apologizing as well.

«So, the game?», he asked instead.

Warren smirked and booped his nose, and Nathan considered it an achievement that he didn't murder him on the spot for having done such a thing.

«Why should I discuss videogames with you? You're not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination.»

Nathan rolled his eyes, but did smile a little, which was Warren's goal.

«I just thought you might want to blabber to no end about one of your weird-ass obsessions and I was sacrificing myself and specifically my ears because I'm a great person and an even greater boyfriend.»

«You most definitely are...»

«I know.»

«... not. And you're one to talk about “weird-ass obsessions”, Mr. Gore-Is-My-Aesthetic»

Nathan literally had no excuses for that.

«Whatever», he mumbled, «It's Art, Graham, I wouldn't expect you to understand.»

Warren gasped exaggeratedly and clutched at his chest.

«I know a whole lot about Art, thank you very much. I _am_ Art.»

Nathan actually snorted.

«Alright, asshole. Videogames _are_ art, though», Warren stated.

«I can give you that», Nathan said, shrugging.

Warren raised his fist in the air in sign of victory.

Sometimes Nathan had troubles believing how cute that absolute dork could be. He would never have admitted how weak he was for him, but the feeling was there nonetheless.

«Nathan?», Warren murmured, causing the other boy to snap out of it.

«Mh?»

«I really, really, really want to kiss you. Would that be okay, right now?»

He didn't always ask, and it wasn't strictly necessary anyway because Nathan wanted to spend 99.9% of his awake time kissing Warren, but he did do it whenever he noticed that Nathan wasn't in an ideal mood.

He was always oh so very careful, like he saw Nathan as fragile in the most beautiful and less demeaning of ways and didn't want to break him for the life of him.

Nathan was already broken, he knew it full well, but didn't mind the guy trying to keep him together. No one else was doing such a thing, not even he himself. He needed Warren.

Nathan got up from the position he was in and straddled his boyfriend, lacing his arms around his neck.

Their noses bumped as he nodded in response.

Warren couldn't stop staring at Nathan's lips. He'd been aching for a kiss since they'd started talking and being this close to him was driving him crazier with each passing second.

He finally inched closer and let their mouths collide, and it felt like breathing for the first time that day.

As the kiss deepened, despite remaining rather chaste, Nathan started caressing the back of Warren's neck. The act itself combined with the chilliness of his long, slim fingers gave Warren goose bumps.

The younger boy slipped a hand under Nathan's shirt and explored his back with it, scratching slightly when Nathan bit down on his lower lip, then he moved it to his chest. He was so thin you could feel and count all his ribs, and Warren did it every time. He was patiently waiting for the day in which he would've felt flesh there and, although he was under no illusion that it would happen soon – Nathan was only just starting to eat somewhat like a normal person again –, he definitely had hopes.

Their tongues finally touched, and the bitter cigarette aftertaste in Nathan's mouth mixed with the sickly sweet flavour of the candied almonds Warren loved so much.

So Nathan hadn't stopped smoking, he maintained it helped him dealing with all the stress. But at least he'd stopped putting out the cigarettes on his body, which was an improvement, and a significant one at that.

Warren just hoped he'd been telling the truth when he'd said it.

They heard the sound of something hitting the floor, then the game unpaused on his own.

Nathan had accidentally kicked the joystick with his calf, the bloody thing had fallen to the ground and now Warren – who'd conveniently stopped playing in the middle of making a decision – had approximately three seconds before the game acted on its own and forced him to replay the whole bit in case he didn't like the outcome.

«Sorry!», he yelled while frantically throwing himself to the side to pick the controller up.

Nathan climbed off him and watched as he clicked the B button from upside down.

He wanted to feel annoyed, but how could he when he was so ridiculously fond of that hopeless nerd?

He helped him back up and received a grateful peck on the lips for that, then they watched the scene as it unfolded.

Apparently this Rhys guy was trying to convince his small friend that he wasn't insane and that he honest to God saw this blue other guy who was just casually floating around. A hologram of sorts, visible only to him, Nathan had gathered.

Warren wrapped Nathan in his arms and kissed him behind the ear, then rested his chin on his shoulder.

Rhys was now going on about how he wasn't obsessed with the bodyless guy, despite it being obvious that he was.

«I can see why he would be», Nathan said.

Warren huffed a laugh, and his warm breath tickled Nathan's neck.

«You have a thing for Handsome Jack?»

Nathan turned to look at him.

«That's his name?»

Warren nodded vigorously.

«It says a lot. Don't _you_ have a thing for him?»

Warren scrunched up his nose.

«Not really? He's quite possibly the biggest prick alive», Warren answered, but corrected himself shortly after: «Well, not exactly the biggest one _alive_ , but the biggest. In general.»

Nathan returned his gaze to the TV and took some time to reflect upon the new piece of information he'd been given.

«All the better», he decided, «My ass is on fire.»

Warren lost it, and even Nathan himself laughed a little at his own uncharacteristic comment. He wasn't a funny person, but he guessed he would've liked being one, and he appreciated it when Warren recognized his sporadic efforts.

«Will they end up together?», he asked.

Warren stopped the game again to follow the conversation properly.

«Who?»

«Jack and that other one. Reece?»

«Rhys.»

«Yeah, whatever. Will they?»

Warren made a face.

«I sure hope not», he said, «And anyway, that would be impractical, wouldn't it? Jack is pretty... incorporeal.»

Nathan frowned.

«Shame. I was getting a vibe, there.»

Warren groaned, burying his face on the crook of Nathan's neck.

«Are you on your way to become a Rhack shipper?»

Nathan shrugged.

«I might be. Would that bother you, Gayram?»

Warren whined and Nathan felt the sound vibrate in his very bones.

«Deeply.»

Nathan laughed, he couldn't hold it back. Which, thinking about it, was an overwhelmingly positive thing.

«Good. I'm officially a Rhack shipper.»

Warren bit his shoulder a little too hard as a kind of revenge, but Nathan stopped himself from flinching for the sake of not giving him the satisfaction.

«Very funny, Prescock», Warren said, with no bite to it. «Talking about gays, I don't think any of them is going to turn out to be one.»

Nathan almost gasped.

«Come on. Rhys is gayer than you are.»

Warren blinked a few times.

«Barely», he conceded, «But yes, I know. The world is hardly ever fair on our sorry asses.»

They fell into a comfortable silence for a while, just holding each other and bathing in the other's presence.

It was Warren who put an end to the absence of sound.

«Rhys and Vaughn are the true OTP, though.»

«Who's Vaughn?» asked a mildly confused Nathan.

«Are you even trying?»

«Very hard, actually.»

Warren had to give him that, Nathan did seem to have taken a special interest in this particular videogame.

«Alright, okay, Vaughn is the little dude with the abs.»

«Of course», Nathan said, like he'd just come to a realization.

«Of course what?»

«Of course you'd ship them.»

Warren narrowed his eyes at him.

«Would you mind elaborating?»

«He's the nerdy one and you probably relate to him on some level.»

Warren snorted.

«Stereotypes, much?»

Nathan shrugged. He had a tendency to shrug a lot.

«But yeah, I do relate to Vaughn, that was a lucky guess.»

«“Lucky guess”, you say.»

Warren pinched Nathan's side, causing him to squirm.

«That's not the reason why I ship them!», he shouted, «The reason is they've been best bros since forever and they care and look out for each other. They'd make a cute couple.»

Nathan leaned on Warren even more, almost forcing him to lie down.

«It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that Rhack got me first.»

«You've barely seen anything!»

«Too late to turn back, now.»

Warren laughed and Nathan smiled sleepily. He was exhausted all of a sudden; he hadn't been able to sleep much the past night due to his recurring nightmares and his reluctance to take sleeping pills. There had been a time where he'd been addicted to them to the point of not being able to sleep at all without taking one, but Nathan was trying to break up with his past and forget all he could about their toxic relationship.

«Can I watch you play some more? I want to see where this goes.»

«I never thought the day would come where you'd ask me something of the kind», Warren said, and he sounded almost moved.

«I never thought they day would come where someone like me would be with someone like you, and yet.»

Warren knocked their heads together softly so that it didn't really hurt either of them.

«Fuck off.»

The funny thing was that Nathan hadn't meant it as an insult, nor was he joking. He genuinely thought someone rotten and fucked up like him would never get to be with someone as pure and selfless as Warren.

As per usual, he didn't say it out loud. He kissed his cheek instead, something way out of character that felt oddly right. Warren cooed, which almost led Nathan to regret doing it. Almost.

«Your wish is my command», Warren said, sliding up to lean against the headboard.

Nathan settled with his head on Warren's chest and sighed, relishing the moment. He'd felt more positive emotions in the few months he'd spent with the guy than he had in his whole life, therefore he was seriously starting to think that that human Golden Retriever had some kind of magic in him.

Someone like Nathan couldn't possibly believe that suffering isn't supposed to be the default human condition, despite what certain philosophers might say. He lived in fear that what they had, too, would become a nightmare, like all other things before had. Imagining Warren as the chosen one, who had been given the gift of turning everything he touched into something good, helped him. It gave him hope that, one day, Warren would be able to turn even _him_ into a good person.

He watched him play for a bit, and was beginning to see the potential in Rhys and Vaughn's relationship when he drifted into sleep.

 

 

Warren put away the controller and lay down, taking Nathan in his arms.

He'd kept playing for a while after Nathan had fallen asleep, and once he'd finished episode two he'd come to the conclusion that yes, Rhys and Handsome Jack made sense – in the most disturbing and wrong of ways.

He might also go so far as to ship them, which would never have happened if it hadn't been for his awful boyfriend, or so he thought.

«I'll never admit defeat to an awake version of you, but maybe – and I'm saying maybe! – I do get what you mean when you say Rhack might be a thing», he whispered softly, so softly it was barely audible.

He knew he'd fucked up when he saw Nathan starting to smile.

«Too bad I _am_ an awake version of myself, then.»

Warren groaned while burying his face in Nathan's hair.

«How do you manage to always win?», he asked.

Nathan laughed, and it sounded kind of bitter even though he didn't mean for it to. He felt like the only time he'd won something in his entire life had been when he and Warren had gotten together.

«What can I say? I must have it in me.»

«Good thing I'm not a sore loser.»

 _Good thing indeed_ , Nathan thought. _Thank God for that_.

«Tell you what, though: I think it's actually a tie, this time.»

«Oh, really? How come?», Warren asked, and Nathan could practically feel him smiling.

«Rhys and Vaughn _would_ be cute as a couple.»

Warren laughed and held Nathan close, although still not to the point of making it hard for him to breathe because he knew that was likely to trigger panic attacks. He kissed the top of his head and rubbed his back gently.

«So, who do we cosplay? Rhack or Gayperion?»

Nathan snorted.

«Fucking nerd», he said, and it sounded frighteningly close to _I love you_.


End file.
